Making Clarified Butter (Ghee)

The last thing we learned from the Dairy Making 101 workshop was Making Clarified Butter (or Ghee in South Asia ). Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than regular butter which is good for high heat cooking. Clarified butter also has a much longer shelf life than fresh butter. It can be stored without refrigeration when kept in an airtight container.

makingghee-19

We started off with melting unsalted butter (preferably organic) in a large pot.

makingghee-15

Here is the pot of melted butter bubbling away. You may give it a stir once in a while.

makingghee-18

You can flavour your clarified butter with herbs which render their flavour through the oil in them. Thomas flavoured one pot with garlic and rosemary and another with cardamon. I brought some of the clarified butter flavoured with garlic and rosemary home. It smells wonderful.

makingghee-17

Clarified butter is made by rendering the milk solids and water from the butter fat. The foam which sticks to the sides of the pot and also those at the bottom of the pot is milk solids. Milk solid is not good for consumption but it is very good for your skin. Thomas uses the milk solid which sticks to the sides of the pot, not those at the bottom as a lotion. When the water evaporates, the volume of the clarified butter will reduce. Cook until all the water evaporated.

makingghee-14

You just have to make sure that the solids at the bottom of the pot does not get burned.

Thomas made some chocolate spread using some unflavoured clarified butter. It is like nutella.

Click on Read More for the instructions.

(more…)

Continue ReadingMaking Clarified Butter (Ghee)

Dairy Making 101

I was able to attend another workshop organized by Arzeena who is the outreach coordinator of the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project at Garrat Wellness Centre. This time it’s a Dairy Making workshop.

dairymaking101-14

The workshop was conducted by Thomas Hicks, the gentleman behind the red cooler. He briefly introduced himself and told us that he has been growing his own food in his own backyard and community farm. He became more interested in growing seeds as he can share the abundance of seeds. He also has experience working in a chicken farm where he took care of 400 chickens which he thought has distinctive personalities.

He also enjoys preserving food when they are in abundance so that he can enjoys them all year round. He likes to use local produce for preservation. He introduced us to this book by Sally Fallon.

dairymaking101-30

It’s this book, Wild Fermentation where he successfully made sauerkraut. This book was available for sale at $25 during the workshop.

dairymaking101-22

While doing all the introduction, he passed around 3 jars with full cream milk and asked us to give it a good shake and pass it down when our hands are tired.

dairymaking101-20

In the jar, there were also a few pebbles. So, it’s quite noisy as the bottles were being vigorous shake.

dairymaking101-21

After some 15 minutes of so of shaking, we ended with butter and butter milk. This can be a good project for school kids.

dairymaking101-19

The butter is very soft and creamy. Dont forget to remove the pebbles in the butter.

dairymaking101-10

We made some gorgeous scones using the butter and butter milk we just made. We enjoyed the scones with the butter too.

Click on Read More for the recipe of the scone.

(more…)

Continue ReadingDairy Making 101